


Vanishing Point

by Jon_of_Narva



Series: The Zhrau [3]
Category: The Orville (TV)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-10-17 07:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17556350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jon_of_Narva/pseuds/Jon_of_Narva
Summary: A continuation of last year's tales.I have not been able to catch much of the 2nd season yet (damnit) so please forgive any cannon deviations. Going off into left field with an addition to the crew and a new species of aliens is my way of avoiding such clashes... and it seems I was right about Alara needing time on her home world to get healthy again.I will include a summary of the Series in chapter one notes instead of clutter this space up with it.





	1. Trust

**Author's Note:**

> What came before;
> 
> The Orville first encountered a new breed of Aliens calling themselves the Zhrau (the "zh" sound as in Gendarme or Zhukov) in a humiliating way when Phaing (fang) out-maneuvered them. The Orville had been tricked into providing cover for a slave ship and told that the Zhrau were pirates.  
> Half a year later, the Union is contacted by the Zhrau through official channels. A stolen data-core revealing many Union secrets has come into their possession, but instead of using it to cripple the Union, the Zhrau offer to return it in exchange for being fast-tracked for inclusion in the Union.
> 
> The Zhrau have a home world, Erriau, a few secondary worlds and a handful of colonies. They are near cousins of Xelayans, and spent over a millennia as slaves to a race remembered only as "the Masters" whom the Zhrau rebelled against and eradicated centuries ago. The experience hardened them, but genetic tampering left them physically underwhelming, even if highly attractive and adaptable.  
> On a Galactic scale, their numbers are not overwhelming either.
> 
> What makes the Zhrau dangerous is their sophistication, and their diligence when it comes to perfecting themsevles. Phaing is something of a mascot for them because she is a modern embodiment of what their ancestors endured... and a very rare one. The Zhrau do not tolerate any abuse of their people, yet Phaing's mother slipped through the cracks and gave birth to a half-breed girl who grew up us as a horribly abused slave. Instead of becoming a monster, she became a crusader, altho her methods and attitude can best be described as; feral. 
> 
> As luck (and a vindictive pair of Admirals) would have it, Phaing is now the exchange officer assigned to the Orville. 
> 
> There have been ups and downs, Phaing's suspicions about Isaac have been resolved and the crew have found her more handy in an emergency then she is a liability in social situations, for the most part.  
> Her people, on the other hand, are becoming more suspicious as time goes by. Alliance with the Union seems to be the one thing that they deal with in a slip-shod way, almost as if they were playing for time...

 

Part One; Trust

 

 

“The reason the Zhrau have been taking us by surprise is because we have allowed them to hold the initiative.”

“Ed, there is more to it than that. For more than a year and a half now, Phaing has been taking us off guard and she isn’t even trying most of the time! I’ll remind you of what they taught us at the academy; the most important thing to remember about Aliens is they are _ALIEN_ … not us. I think that what keeps throwing us off is the Zhrau are the only non-humans that are not bending over backwards to accommodate Human expectations!” Captain Ed Mercer arched an eyebrow at her. “Alright, aliens that we are not at war with, not counting Isaac of course.”

They were speaking in her office, not Mercer’s own, which would be the first place a nosy Admiral would hail if they were looking for yet another update. The situation was not an emergency, yet, but it was extremely delicate. A Zhrau ship had left Earth in such a hurry that it had not even asked clearance, and it’s course was an arc that took it through the least densely populated and patrolled parts of the Union, an arc that would take it to Zhrau space the back way, in a manner of speaking. This would not raise too many alarms were it not for a late-breaking item; all of the Zhrau members of an archeological expedition had also disappeared at the same time, leaving most of their equipment behind and taking some large and bulky ‘finds’ with them.  
By some cosmic joke, the Orville was one of the few Union ships in position to intercept the Zhrau.

“I’m not talking about culture or personality quirks… maybe I should… but this is more like Galatic Policy. We were so relieved when they handed that Data Core back to us that we have made allowances for them that we would not allow for anyone else trying to enter the Union.” Ed was pacing around near the window, his ex-wife standing at the other side of the room. She was not there out of any discomfort with his presence, but rather to give him room to move and gesture with his restless arms. Her office was smaller than the Captain’s office, and while he was in there it was a matter of courtesy that nobody sit while the Captain remained standing.

Or in this case, prowling around like a caged Gorilla.

“We make allowances for Phaing, and the benefits have been-“

“A mixed blessing, even you have to admit that!” Mercer cut his executive officer off with words and with both hands making chopping gestures. “Remember the time she yawned in the face of the Vorkutan ambassador? And just last month she threatened to turn a cannon on those Shore Police in Florida!”

“Oh, they had it coming! The-“

“That is _not_ the POINT!” Mercer happened to be looking out of the window, so Kelly was able to pretend that he was shouting at the stars. any ‘useful fiction’ helped to avoid a fight on a day like this. Ed’s voice was already fading from a shout to a hoarse mutter as he went on; “This time we have Zhrau smuggling something out of Earth itself. They are committing a crime, or it might even be _espionage_  this time. The point is… can we trust her?”

It was a question that needed to be answered quickly. Unless it had changed its speed, the Zhrau smugglers would be passing through the area the Orville was covering very soon.

Kelly leaned on her desk and thought about it for a moment, a brief one, before nodding her head. “Yes, I think so.”

“Why?”

“Phaing has not received any messages from Erriau since before that ship left Earth.” She nodded at the sharp look Ed gave her. “Yes, I checked on that, first thing.”   _Trust, but verify_  “So unless they can pre-plan an archeological discovery, they have not briefed her before today. And, as it stands, I think you know what her reaction to something like this will be.”

Ed was not giving anything away. “I want to hear what you think.”

“I think she will be upset, ad not with us. Some renegade Zhrau are pulling a stunt that endangers her people’s standing with the Union. Of course she will help us over them.”

Ed raised an eyebrow at Kelly. “That’s awfully simplistic, _isn’t_  it?”

Kelly shrugged at him, letting go of the desk so that she could shrug with her palms out. “Sure it is. This _**is**_ Phaing we are talking about.”

“I thought you were her friend.”

“I am! But if you had ever heard her going on about….” She stopped and rolled her eyes. “Okay, yeah, I’d better stop there before _I_  start talking like she does! Look at it this way, how would you or I react if a Union ship was doing the same thing?”

Ed blinked, and then nodded. “I’d be curious, but I would also be angry, and in the absence of orders I would do my damndest to stop this before it became something that could disgrace the Union.” He took a deep breath and glanced out the window again. The problem with space was that it was so god-awfully BIG. “I’m not ashamed to admit it, we need a Zhrau to catch a Zhrau.”

 

Phaing was not angry, she was humiliated. There was also a touch of denial. “This…. really happened? It isn’t some trick, did you get official notification of this from the Fleet?”

“From Headquarters, that ship blew right past them on it’s way out.”

Captain Mercer was briefing Phaing in the hallway just outside the bridge. He set a slow pace, but his feet kept moving to let her know that time was important and that Phaing would be included in Bridge operations for this mission.

“Unbelievable! What a bunch of _assholes_ … no, I’m fine.” She shook her head as Mercer bit his lip, and Phaing brought her fists together under her chin. “Alight then, you gonna let me help, or did HQ have something to say about that too?”

“You _want_ to help us? These are-“

“Idiots is what they are!” Phaing sighed. “Sorry, and really sorry that this happened in the first damned place. What kind of ship is it?”

“I believe it is called the… Avios?”

Phaing was so relieved that the edges of her lips started to curl up in a smile. “Not a _Navy_ ship then.” A heartbeat later she came to a stop, frowning and concerned. “That isn’t the name of a ship, its a _type_  of ship. A Dispatch Sloop, chartered to deliver information packets or other high-priority cargo, the kind that does not take up much room. About 80% of that ship is engineering; propulsion, fuel, buffering. It only has one deck for everything else.”

 _Fuel?_  Then Mercer remembered the fatal flaw of Zhrau ships; they used Exotic Matter as a catalyst and burned other sorts of matter instead of using up tiny amounts of Exotic Matter the way the Union ships did. “Sounds fast.”

“It is, and it has the range to make the whole trip in one go.”

“Is it armed?”

Phaing had to think about that, and with a gentle nudge Ed got her headed for the Bridge again. “Maybe. Oh, I remember now; they may have something in detachable pods. You will be able to tell just by looking at the hull, those pods can be jettisoned if they decide they need more speed.”

“ _More_ speed? If it is a civilian ship why would it even _want_ anything close to military power? And even if it has that, it can’t go any faster than this ship, can it?”

“You are missing the point; unless we are a _lot_ faster than it is, we will only get one chance to intercept it.” She lowered her voice just as they were on the verge of entering the bridge itself. “Unless your ship had a hidden reserve of speed that I don’t know about, we have to be in the right neighborhood before they get there to have a chance at an interception.”

“I know.” Even if the Orville was a little faster, every light-year away from whatever course the smuggler chose made interception less likely. “That is exactly why I want you at tactical. If we miss our chance then all we can do then is send what we saw on to the next ship. I’m not bragging when I say that they probably won’t have any better chance at this than we did.” Even at Hypervelocity, ships could still turn… a little. A little could mean a lot, given the distance to the next patrol area.

“Right.” They entered the bridge side by side. Phaing blinked and looked at Mercer, grinning she nudged him with her elbow. “Wrong! This is the Orville, luckiest ship in the fleet. We’re the ones that always pull the last-minute save!” She winked and marched towards the tactical station.

Phaing even had a word for Kelly as she swept by; “Commander.”

“Marshall.” Kelly nodded and then glanced at Ed as he took his seat, a lopsided grin on her face. “Did you tell her the rest of it?”

“Bortus is about to show her.” They had both lost track of what phase relations between Bortus and Phaing were on this particular day. They seemed to oscillate between being drinking buddies one week and Glaciers on a collision course the next.

Today seemed a rather chilly day; Phaing marched right past him and stood with her back to his console. “I’m afraid that I have lost track of exactly where we are, can I see a star map on the screen?”

This was also another example of Phaing’s odd ideas about courtesy. The same woman who had a tendency to ignore the concept of personal space also made a point of not hovering over anyone’s shoulder on the bridge. She also had a habit of placing herself so that she could not look directly at the read-outs on the boards nearest her. Nobody was sure if this was her idea of respecting Union secrets or just Phaing’s way of showing that she trusted the crew to know their jobs better than she did. Either way, once Ed Mercer had shown the Admiralty proof that this was how Phaing behaved on the Bridge, the last objections to the Zhrau’s presence on the Orville died away.

She was confused for a moment by the display, there were no stars on the star map. “Is there a problem?”

Mercer winced. “Pull back a bit, Commander.”

The blue-white diamond representing Orville shrank to where it was barely visible, and scattered stars appeared at the upper and lower borders of the rectangular screen. Phaing hissed. “A void? Where _are_  we?”

“Scion’s Rift.” Bortus said with all of his usual warmth.

“Instead of taking a direct path to Erriau, their course arcs just enough to take them through this rift.” Isaac confirmed his navigational data. “At the far end is Zhrau space, seventeen hours away at our own top speed.”

“Why would they do that?” Malloy swung away from the helm, looking around as if someone could give him a good answer. His eyes settled on Phaing. “There is nowhere for them to hide, we could detect them from a light-hour away!”

Phaing sighed and her head dipped forward, but her eyes remained locked on the map. “No kidding…. and guess what? _they_  can detect  _us_ from even farther away. Damnit!” Her head turned just far enough for her to look at the Captain and the Commander. “You know why, right?”

Ed nodded, and answered while Kelly slumped in her chair. “I know. We have to burn pretty hard to match velocities. The problem is, our sensors are not as good looking aft, no starship’s sensors are when propulsion is burning that hard. The smuggler will be coming up behind us. Once they spot us, they just alter course, they have plenty of elbow room for that out here. Gordon, there is no place for _us_ to hide, that’s the real problem.”

“Oh.” Malloy settled back into his station. “Damn.”

“Okay, lets get creative here.” Kelly spoke up, tapping on her console until a blue line showed on the map. “That is the smuggler’s most likely course, and we aren’t there yet. So, what if we keep going as fast as we can, and then shut down…. go as dark possible? At the same time we fire off as many probes as we have to, in order to simulate our own engine’s signature.” She held up a hand to cut off Isaac’s objections. “I know, it won’t work for long, and only from a distance, but long-distances are just what we are dealing with! If we have the phony Orville cross the most likely path, the smugglers will avoid it. Most likely, they will cross behind the probes, so they will probably come very close to where we actually are.”

“If anyone can rig something like that up, it’s John.” Malloy grinned.

“Right! We can do it if we have the time, how soon will the Zhrau be here?”

Ed crushed Kelly’s enthusiasm with two sentences. “According to the Admiralty, any time now. It is possible that they have us in sensor range already.”

And there it was; they had been sent on a hopeless mission. The best the Fleet was expecting from the Orville was to set up the next ship in line for success.

Malloy shook his head. “Ah… son of a bitch!”

“You said it.” Kelly crossed her legs, still slumped low in her hair. Her only hope was that Phaing could come up with some sort of trick, a foolish hope as it now appeared. The little Zhrau woman looked frustrated, and was not even looking to Isaac, her usual partner to bounce ideas off of. A long of painful silence passed, and just when Kelly was ready to give up Phaing looked at Ed.

“Wait, _why_? What makes you so certain that they are so close?”

“Its not me, Phaing. Until it entered this rift, the smuggler was spotted several times. I doubt it will travel exactly along that blue line there, but I also doubt they can go any faster than they already are.”

“Sure.” Phaing rubbed her chin, looking at the map again. “But, what about … slower?”

“What? Why would they do that?” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kelly uncross her legs and sit up. “Isn’t that wishful thinking?”

“Maybe.” Phaing walked to the map, leaping up on a ledge so that she could reach it with her hands. “But put yourself in that ship. You do not have many options and you don’t know exactly how many Union ships are in this rift. You have a ship with a known course, no way to hide and nothing but empty space to confuse your pursuers with. Now, imagine this;” Her hands made sweeping gestures, arcs from the stars above and below the rift. “You know ships will come out try to head you off… whoa!” She nearly slipped, but held her perch for a moment. “So, if the enemy is timing it’s moves to head you off, why not slow down so that you can see their energy signatures pass in _front_ of you? The more enemy ships you imagine ahead of you, the more this would work in your favor… up to a point.”

It was so outlandish and counter-intuitive that none of them would have considered it, not without putting themselves in the smuggler's role.

“Malloy, full power, lite ‘em up!” Mercer ordered immediately.

Kelly leapt to her feet. “I’ll be in engineering.”

Phaing just made it back to the floor as the ship surged forward. There was no actual momentum to fight, but the view from a ship moving at high speed had a psychological effect on almost everyone that saw it happening. “Mind if I stick around for the action?”

One of the things Mercer liked about Phaing was how she never took her access to the Bridge for granted. He pointed to the seat next to him that Kelly had just vacated. “I’m sure the Commander won’t mind if you keep it warm for her.”

Sitting carefully, Phaing grinned and leaned back, looking straight up through the round viewport over her head. “Nice view. I like how you people refrain from burying your bridge in the depths of a ship. Sure makes things more… livable.”

“What good is life if it can’t be livable?”


	2. Honor demands ...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The confrontation begins, uncomfortably. 
> 
> This us literally going from the last line of dialogue in the last story to the very next-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot about my little tradition of including some music, just for un of course -
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4daSgOc7zA

 

Phaing closed her eyes before answering Mercer. “You are going to want me to talk them down, aren’t you?”

“I’m going to want you to make it clear to them that compliance is their only option. I need you to do that quickly, and make sure it happens, for real. Rumor has it, you have a certain talent when it comes to that sort of thing.”

“Maybe I should be standing by in a shuttle.” Phaing’s voice was so dead-pan that the Captain had to look at her to make sure she wasn’t being sarcastic. She was not, Phaing was not even looking at him, but at the big screen that made up the leading edge of the bridge.

“Nnnn _no_. We’ll take them down from here first. If we do this right there will be no need for a boarding action.” _Will there? And what does she think she can do by charging at them with a fragile little shuttle?_  

It wasn’t likely to be good for the shuttle, whatever it was.

 

 

Ten minutes later the Orville was coasting through space, backwards, with all power down and back-lit by the flares of all the departing probes.

Facing back towards the expected approach of the smuggler gave the Orville’s sensors the best chance they had to pick something up at extreme range. It was not a waiting game that wore away at the nerves of everyone on the bridge. Phaing left to grab her sword belt from her room and met Kelly on her way back to the bridge. The Commander winced when she saw the little Zhrau with sword and pistol. “You aren’t thinking of leading a boarding party, are you?”

“Nah, I just thought I’d give the Doc’s kids something to think about next time they try to fire spit-balls at my butt.”

Kelly grinned, but only for a moment. “That hasn’t actually _happened_ , has it?”

“Not lately.” Phaing pointed at the Captain’s chair when they arrived at the bridge. “Its up to him if I go, but I’m ready. And when we hail them, I’m ready for that too.”

Phaing was too tense to sit down, she went forward to the helm while Kelly sat in her slightly warm chair. “We might have half an hour, if the probes are as good at holding formation as Lamar said they are.”

Mercer nodded. “After that they will have crossed the blue line, and they won’t be much of a decoy anyway. Probes aren’t designed to work like that, how did you do it?”

“We got creative.” Kelly shrugged. “Microfilament wire and some guesswork with the guidance systems.”

"You _tied_ them together?" Mercer rolled his eyes. “Phaing better be right about us being a lucky ship today.”

Phaing’s dark eyes were on the much darker view of space ahead of them. The chances were practically nil that she would see anything before the sensors did, but not absolutely zero, and all the sensors were being watched already. The only thing unusual about the view was the small number of stars, and their relative dimness. She paced back and forth for a moment before putting a hand on Malloy’s shoulder. “Anything?”

“Just a whole lot of-“ just as Malloy was about to say ‘nothing’ his display lit up, “-oh, _crap_!”

Isaac felt the need to ask for clarification. “Organic matter in this area would indicate-“

“Contact!” Malloy ignored Isaac and began turning the ship without waiting for orders. By the time the Captain said “After them!” the Orville already was. Malloy grinned at Phaing without looking away from the display. “They  _are_  fast, but not fast enough… _heh heh_.”

The Zhrau smugglers realized their mistake immediately, and maneuvered desperately to get away from the Orville. With Malloy at the helm they never had a chance, he even anticipated the moment when they would go to full power. Phaing grinned  at Malloy when both ships found themselves on parallel courses within sight of each other. “This is exactly what those people get paid good money to ensure never happens, well done!” Peering closely at the image of the dagger-shaped ship, she added. “No weapons.”

Ed looked to Kelly, who shook her head before he had to ask what was on his mind. “We have been pinging them with automated hails since they started maneuvering, no answer.”

“Now that they have given up trying to dodge us,” Ed glanced at the viewers to make sure he was right about that, “I think it’s time we start trying this manually. Phaing, would you do the honors?”

The Captain would normally be the one to do the talking, and set the tone for the encounter. This was Ed’s way of rewarding Phaing for her help… so it was a little surprising when she shook her head without even turning her head and pointed to Bortus. “If you want to start off with some good intimidation and leave them no wiggle room, I think a Moclan voice should be the first they hear.”

This was a rare treat for the Lt. commander, yet the only reaction he showed was a gleam in his eyes as he turned to his Captain.

Ed shrugged. “Trust the Lady to know her people.” He met Bortus’s rock-steady gaze. “By the book, alright?”

With a nod, Bortus keyed his panel so that Isaac could patch him through. “Attention! This is Lieutenant Commander Bortus of the Union fleet. To the Zhrau ship alongside the USS Orville; You are to reduce speed and hold a steady course while opening a direct communications channel, so that you may respond to further instructions. You WILL comply!”

Kelly blinked. “Close enough.”

While they were talking Phaing turned away from the forward display, and fluffed her hair to cover her ears. With her back to the visual pick-up, she was hiding herself from the Zhrau on the other ship as best she could at the last minute. She looked nervous, fidgety, and perhaps a little space-sick. Ed and Kelly exchanged worried looks. Would there be repercussions for her back home, was she afraid of running afoul of some Criminal Gang? _Maybe this was a bad idea._ They relaxed when Phaing clasped her hands together behind her back, looked up at them, and winked.

The main screen came to life, giving the crew of the Orville their second look into a Zhrau bridge. While not as small and cramped as Phaing’s little three-seat Gunboat, it was similar, and just as dimly lit. There were two Zhrau seated at consoles that were reasonably conventional… if one were willing to overlook the exposed components. Most of the equipment was either glossy black or matte black, the flooring was white, and every bit of it was so clean it looked sterile. There was also padding in various places to limit the injuries to personal that might be flung about by sudden impacts or wild maneuvers.

Mercer held back a sigh. _Something ELSE that I need to add to my wish-list._

The other two Zhrau were affecting a casual air, disdainful of all they surveyed. The Captain could only be the male that was leaning with his hip supported by the outer edge of his padded chair, his arms crossed over his chest. At the back of the room, which was about five paces behind the captain, was a female with her back to the wall. She had her legs crossed and hands in her pockets, feigning boredom so well that she looked ready to fall asleep right then and there.

All of them were wearing scarlet uniforms with gold piping, with a few glossy decorations here and there. Rather than drab, these clothes were considerably more flamboyant than their military equivalent, and more comfortable-looking. The exception was the Captain, who wore a purple jacket and matching leather boots.

The Zhrau had the most over-developed fashion sense in the known universe. As usual, they were using it to project a sleek and deadly image.

“Lieutenant Commander…” That image took its first hit when the Zhrau captain squinted into this view of the Orville’s bridge. He ordered one of his crew to “Dim that!” before he went on; “… I’ll ask you to keep a civil tongue in your head, just once. I am Captain Zintoor of the Villenvelp carrying classified dispatches on behalf of the Diplomatic Corps. I will speak to your…” his eyes and the display in his side adjusted enough for him to pick out Mercer, and rank on his shoulders. “…Captain, there you are. By what authority have you ambushed us?”

  _Clever, how he phrased that. He is trying to turn this into a scandal before I have even opened my mouth_. Out loud, Mercer said; “Those were some thefty moves you made back there-“

“Your tone is noted, as are the implications of your words.” Zintoor huffed. “Our maneuvers were necessary to prevent a collision with your warship.”

Malloy barked out half a laugh before he could stop himself. Phaing, on the other hand, looked as if she was headed for a slow burn.

Mercer shook his head. “Why the act? You are posing as if we don’t know what stresses you just put on your ship trying to get past us. Now, you are being stopped because you left Earth without clearance, and you will now submit to a safety inspection, its as simple as that.”

“Who said we came from Earth?” Zintoor noticed Phaing’s back and what little he could see of her white uniform, and did not appear to know what to think of what he saw.

Before he could decide, Kelly had something to say; “Oh stop it! You might be good smugglers, but you lost this one. Now quit whining and take your medicine like a big boy!”

“You know, if a fight is what you want-“

This time it was Bortus that barked out something that was like a laugh. “Your ship is unarmed.”

“ _Should_  we be armed? Your own attitude aside, we have not seem any great need for armaments in Union Space.” Zintoor leaned on the last pair of words while looking at Isaac, as if daring the machine to contradict him. “If you intend to take my ship, you will have to fire on us. Honor demands it.”

“Honor?” Phaing snarled, and when Mercer nodded she turned to face the screen. “Your words and conduct dishonor yourself, _myself_ and Zhrau everywhere.” Zintoor was upset, surprised, and angry to see a Zhrau on a Union ship. Before he could answer her, Phaing added; “But if your ‘honor’ demands that you be fired on, I’ll be happy to be the one that pulls the trigger.”

Knowing her as they did, nobody on the bridge of the Orville doubted that she was being perfectly serious. Mercer leaned forward and hissed to get her attention, and when that did not work he called to her; “Phaing?”

On the bridge of the Villenvelp, anger gave way to shock and a certain amount of fear, all four Zhrau fixing their attention on Phaing. “You?” Captain Zintoor stood up straight, as did the woman at the far end of the bridge as she glanced at Phaing, and then at the door next to her.

“Oh no you don’t!” Phaing snapped her fingers and brought a fist up to shoulder level. “You won’t be making any more transmissions without permission from this ship. Is that clear?”

“Yes, of course.” Zintoor did not seem so haughty now, but nearer to panic. He lowered his voice and leaned towards the viewer speaking to Phaing, as if that would do any good. “Can we talk? Haven’t you received any briefing?!”

“I found out all I need to know before you even showed up. You are endangering an alliance that has not even been formalized yet. _You_ will stand by and do nothing while we do our damndest to undo the damage you have done.” Phaing repeated her earlier words with added emphasis; “Is that _clear_?”

“Yes.” Zintoor was having trouble believing what she was telling him, but he had to accept that he was not in control of the situation. He sank into his chair and cast a suspicious glance at Isaac. “ _If_ you are certain you are doing the right thing… we obviously have no means of stopping you. How soon should we expect you to board us?”

“That depends on what the Captain of this ship decides. You-all just stay put for now, okay?” Phaing did an about-face, showing Zintoor her back again so that she could face Mercer. Her eyes looked to the ceiling instead of the Captain, and she also blew a silent sigh out… Phaing clearly was not enjoying this confrontation.

“Cut audio.” With a silent connection, Mercer could keep an eye on the Zhrau bridge and speak freely at the same time. Out of the side of his mouth, he quietly said to Greyson; “She looks as frustrated as I feel, and no wonder! Zintoor is as obtuse as those Soviets used to be.”

 _Who?_  Kelly was lost for a moment, wondering if Ed was talking about some obscure Alien race. Then she remembered her history. _Oh, **them**. Meh_. “Want me to take the Boarding party?”

“Please, yes, provided you can keep Phaing from actually shooting him. And don’t let the Zhrau talk to her where you can’t overhear them.”

She gave Ed a curious look as she stood up, but only for a second. “Phaing, Bortus, with me. No, Malloy, stay here. If more Zhrau show up we will need you at the helm. I’ll take Lamar.”

Malloy grumbled. “Always breaking up the team…”

Once they were gone, Mercer started firing off orders. “Malloy, don’t drop your guard for a second, and scan ahead of us as far as you can for _any_  other ships that might show up. Isaac, you have a lot of messages to fire off. First get in touch with the next ship down the rift, that is now our picket. Warn them to watch for any movement coming from the Zhrau border, then let the rest of the fleet know what is going on here. Keep the replies to yourself for now, I don’t want Zintoor to overhear anything.” He nodded to the Zhrau bridge. “Alright, time for me to keep them talking until the shuttle gets other there.”


	3. Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hectic day continues -
> 
> I think I will do two more chapters with this.

 

Hope

 

 

 

 

Aboard the Villenvelp there were few surprises. The crew was sullen and slow to cooperate, a couple of members of the crew were revealed to be archeologists from the expedition on Borneo, and the crates in the cargo hold seemed to be exceptionally difficult to open. Phaing only had to draw her sword halfway to solve that last problem.

Within the last crate to be opened were some odd slabs of material with the qualities of both stone and metal. There were markings on the outer edges that made Grayson speculate that they might be Grave markers. Lamar studied the internal structure, and argued that they were some sort of diode. “An inert device that limits or regulates power, but still allows a certain amount to pass through it.”

“I know what a diode is.” Kelly was keeping an eye on Phaing, which might have made Lamar think she was not paying attention. “Its just that I have never seen one the size of a bunk-bed before, and I doubt that you have either. What kind of power? If these are as old as they look, the only kind of energy available on Earth would have been lightning strikes.”

“I’ll need something better than this hand-held scanner to figure _that_ out!”

“Right. Well, lets get ready to do some confiscating then.” Kelly Grayson’s attention returned to the Zhrau as Lamar grinned and nodded. The Zhrau had been continually trying to give Phaing signals, the subtle kind that people everywhere used as a sort of silent communication… and they were becoming more desperate and less subtle as time went on. Phaing was either ignoring them, or too angry to read the signs. —And, lets face it, she is pretty obtuse about that sort of thing. A childhood spent as a slave among non-Zhrau could have a lot to do with it too.—

Before Greyson could stop it, the disagreement became a shouting match. Phaing’s hand twitched between her sword and her pistol as voices rose. Not being a big believer in personal space, Phaing must have felt threatened indeed to say; “Back off!”

“I demand that you contact Erriau’s Buro-“

“Step away from that crate or-“

“You don’t understand!” The Zhrau were not just crowding Phaing, one was starting to push past her.

“ _BACK the fuck OFF or you will never fuck again_!”

Phaing’s pistol was suddenly in her hand and held at crotch-level aimed at the nearest Zhrau, who happened to be the woman who had been the overly casual one from the bridge. Now, she was so agitated that the threat to her reproductive organs meant little to her. “Idiot! You are committing treason you little freak of-“

Kelly put her hand on Phaing’s shoulder to let remind her that had someone backing her up, and just in time. Lamar ended the shouting by slamming the lid of the crate shut.

Everyone jumped, as did the woman in front of Phaing…. which was fortunate for her. Phaing’s pistol went off, the projectile passing right between the Zhrau woman’s thighs about an inch below where those legs met.

“Whoa!”

“Are you out of your _mind_?!”

Kelly whirled away from Phaing. “Lamar, you are so dead when we-“

“Hey, I thought you said you knew who I am.” Phaing was not upset at all. The only one in the room ready to crack a grin, she kept her eyes on the Zhrau she had nearly de-sexed. “Here I try to be nice and proper and you just get all nasty, calling me bad things & gettin' all pushy. Just how desperate are you, anyway? Seems to me we will have to confiscate this cargo of yours now, just to make sure you don’t go Rabbit on us, yeah?” Phaing nodded at Commander Greyson. “Does my suggestion make sense to you?”

“Hell yeah it does!” Kelly couldn’t imagine why why Phaing was being the only cool and collected Zhrau in the room, given how things normally went it should have been the other way around. Then she understood; Phaing had taken the hand on her shoulder as a sign, and then Lamar had slammed the lid. _Phaing thinks I was letting her know we were making a move!_  In truth, Kelly had been just as surprised as anyone else, but once again physical contact had a remarkable effect on the former slave.

The other crew of the Villenvelp were backing off, and two of them were telling Phaing she was making a mistake. Her answer was sharply delivered; “Yeah, this must be the day for Zhrau to make all kinds of mistakes, ain’t it? I feel better about mine than you will about yours, now MOVE it!” Once they were gone, Phaing did crack a grin at last, and wink at Lamar. “Nice move!”

“Ahh…. if you say so.” Lamar winced when Greyson shot him a dirty look.

“What’s this now?” Phaing glanced back and forth at the two of them.

“Nothing!” The Commander waved at the crates. “Lets get this out of here while we can. We’ll talk about this later!”

 

There would be a great deal of talking about this incident, and it wasn’t long before the Orville was buzzing with incoming transmissions. The traffic became so intense that Malloy was left in charge of the bridge (which he accepted with relish) and the rest of the senior officers gathered in the meeting room. Extra screens were rigged up and even Doc Finn was there to lend the Captain advice on reading Zhrau intentions. This included Phaing, who was becoming more worried and restless as time went on. When she was not being directly engaged by anyone, she was looking out the window at the Villenvelp or examining the huge 'diode' that had been brought into the room, Lamar had thrown a string of sensors around it and was still having trouble puzzling it out. An hour into the incident and Phaing had still not been contacted by any Zhrau authority.

That did not mean that Erriau did not know what was happening. It seemed that every time anyone from the Union’s diplomatic corps or anyone from the Admiralty started a conversation with anyone on the Orville, they were interrupted in less than five minutes and had to leave the Orville’s people hanging.

Last to join them in the meeting room was Kelly, she had been monitoring the bridge and had bad news; “A Zhrau warship crossed the frontier and was heading this way. A small one, when some of our ships moved to head it off they turned right around and left without a word.”

“This is one seriously Hot Potato, if they are probing us like that.” He glanced out the window at the Zhrau ship. “I wish we could pull back before they come at us with more ships, but forcing the Zhrau to come with us could be kidnapping… or something like that.”

“Not just them, Captain Zintoor was ordered over here by the Zhrau Admiralty. When they get around to contacting us directly, they want him in the room …. as a ‘witness’. I have him cooling his heels out in the hallway, under guard.” Kelly lowered her voice; “He did not come alone, but I won’t let that creepy crew of his past the shuttle bay…. agreed?”

Captain Mercer nodded quickly. “Good call. I hadn’t heard about that warship. No, stay here Kelly. Hey Isaac! Use your remote access to our our comms array, and keep me informed if something important happens.”

Issac confirmed the order with a gesture he had learned from Malloy, and Doc Finn leaned over Mercer’s shoulder to ask; “He can do that?”

“Yeah. Lamar worked it out a while back. Doc, before you say or do anything, put it out of your mind for now. We may just be about to find out just how valuable that old Android can be.” Mercer refused to say more about it, even to Kelly. Instead, he asked about the markings on the artifact.

“Strange.” Was the answer, from several voices at the same time. Mercer looked at his personal read-out while pretending to listen while half the people in the room vented their opinions at once. Working in a quieter part of the ship, Ensign Turco was working from detailed images from this and other artifacts. She had compiled a list of identifiable patterns and the languages they pointed to. The computer-generated results were clear, and weird at the same time.

Proto-hieroglyphs registered at 30%, Ogham (he had to look that one up) came in at 20%, 15% appeared to be pictographs. 20% were unknown, and 15% resembled Pliva.

Mercer had to look that one up too, and this one made him swallow hard. _Pliva_ was even more ancient that the rest, and the others were among the most ancient of known Earth written languages. This last one was not a language of Earth at all.

It was from Erriau.

“How…” Mercer had to clear his throat, and hope that it made him sound more normal. “How old is that thing?”

Lamar shrugged. “I’ve tried half a dozen different ways of dating this, and the readings are so random… best I can tell you is this thing is about 16,000 years old, give or take a millennium. It might be a lot older, but it sure wasn’t _used_ for anything any more recently than that.”

“A pre-historic relic?” Kelly asked.

Finn shook her head. “Barely. New discoveries are always being made… thank you.” Mercer passed his pad to Finn and Greyson so that they could see the data. He also held up a finger to warn them against reacting, Phaing was glancing their way now.

“Pre-History?” Phaing asked, and before she could say more, Isaac stood up.

“Commander, Admiral Zurnoctis is demanding our attention.” This was no surprise, it could have come even sooner, but the next thing the Android said was a little disconcerting. “Duke Duke Argaelion knn Virotte has also …. expressed an interest in speaking with us.”

Mercer signaled the guard at the door to bring Zintoor into the room and ordered everyone in the room to; “Find a seat, now! Leave that thing alone and get ready… Isaac, let _our_ Admiralty access all of this as they see fit.” He just barely had time to say that before Zintoor was shown in and directed to a seat across the table from Phaing.

One look at the main screen showed Zintoor that an incoming transmission from Erriau was about to begin. “Who?” he demanded to know, and he was questioning Phaing.

“Admiral Z., and the Duke, maybe.” She never looked at him, staring at the silver-tinged screen and drumming the tabletop with her fingernails.

“Good! You are about to get schooled, little one.” Zintoor sneered at her and sat in his chair as if he was about to be made the new owner of the Orville.

“I hope so.” Phaing returned his sneer with a casual contempt. “It would be nice to find out what the hell is really going on here.”

Zintoor's smile set everyone on edge.  “Heh, sure, you say that _now_ …”


	4. Faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I will continue with this (a continuation of previous tales) and then I will probably walk away from this.  
> I am only getting about 3% of the response to this as I am getting in Youjo Senki, so I'll be concentrating on that from now on.
> 
> However, its bad to start something and walk about w/o finishing it, so don't worry. The drama that this chapter sets up will be presented in the next & last chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just for fun, something from out of nowhere -
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4xZUr0BEfE

 

 

Admiral Zurnoctis’s stress-pinched face filled the screen as she leaned forward, squinting unhappily at the people seated around the table. She even seemed to be critical of a small attempt at decoration; there were half a dozen little round glass vases on the table, half filled with water, supporting green & blue ferns. The Admiral focussed on the diode, and her eyes stayed on it as she leaned back in a chair that looked as if it had come from the bridge of a warship before being placed in her office. “Explain yourselves.”

“Greetings, Admiral.” Mercer said evenly. “I don’t know what you have heard already…” Zurnoctis did not fill him in, did not say a word as her eyes fixed him with an unblinking stare, so he had to continue, “so… here it is;”He summed it all up in the briefest terms possible, omitting Phaing’s part in it.

Zurnoctis was not fooled for a moment. She turned to Phaing as soon as Mercer was done speaking and asked; “Anything to add to that?”

Phaing was worried, or more accurately, she was unsettled by something that she could not put her thumb on. However, since she could not figure out exactly WHAT she should be worried about Phaing shrugged it off and sat up straight in her seat, faced the Admiral and spoke forthrightly. “I was able to offer some helpful advice once I began to think of this properly.”

“Properly?”

“Yes, as a criminal act. I have been getting some practice at that here, and -“

“Idiot!” Zurnoctis barked at Phaing and pointed at the diode. “You will get that Zhrau property loaded back aboard Zintoor’s ship and send him on his way.The only ‘crime’ that was committed here was the original theft of that material in the first place.”

“What?” Phaing looked at Zintoor, and then Mercer. The Zhrau Captain was maintaining a perfectly neutral Poker face, and the Human was mocking Zurnoctis.

“This stuff has been in the ground since before the start of Human history! What are you trying to accuse us of?” Mercer was trying to restrain himself and his dislike of Zurnoctis. The way Kelly was gripping the edge of the table right next to him made Mercer aware that he might have to restrain her as well.

“I am accusing you of recklessly endangering relations between the Union and my people.” The Admiral responded haughtily, and she moved on to Phaing; “And as for you, you are recalled. Prepare to leave that Union ship immediately and escort our property back to Erriau.” Zurnoctis raised her voice to overcome a host of interruptions; “IF you can accomplish that much, then perhaps we can avoid charging you with anything too serious. Now get yourself and those artifacts back to the Villenvelp!”

Phaing’s face lost some of it’s color, and she shrank into her chair as she blinked at the Admiral, and then at Captain Zintoor. “What? It’s …. _THAT_? Why….”

The Orville’s crew had been hushed by Zurnoctis’s icy tone and her demand that Phaing be taken away from them, all but Bortus. He was close to smiling as he quietly said; “Fascinating.” Many eyes went to him as he added; “I have never seen true desperation in a Zhrau, and until now I had doubted they were capable of it.” Bortus was not looking at Phaing, but at Zurnoctis. Furthermore, he had not spoken so quietly that she could not hear it.

“You insolent blockhead!” All of Zurnoctis’s teeth were showing as she spoke. “Captain Mercer, see that this arrogant Moclan is removed from this conference while a positive outcome is still possible.”

Mercer’s head was spinning, he was trying to see past the problem and keep Phaing away from those people on Erriau and whatever evil they had planned for her. He had barely paid any attention to what Bortus had said, but he realized that his 3rd officer was exactly right. Zurnoctis was trying to Blitz her way past all reasonable behavior by issuing one unreasonable demand after another. He would have given up the artifacts, people were more important than things in the Union… but surely by now, the Zhrau understood that. So, what was really important here, and why the desperation? “For someone with no warships in range of us, you are very keen to control things from way over there. Why is that, Admiral?”

Commander Greyson also had something to say, and she slipped it in while Zurnoctis was spluttering with rage. “Something I find very strange…. why didn’t anyone over there try to contact your exchange officer? Even if this opportunity to steal something from Earth took you by surprise, you had time to send Phaing a message.”

Phaing herself tilted her head at Zurnoctis. “I was just wondering that myself.”

Admiral Zurnoctis stood up, both hands on her desk as she leaned toward the screen. “Our message was sent, and received by your ship! are you telling me-“ Her eyes went to Isaac, and within tow heartbeats so did all other eyes in the room.

“Lieutenant?” Mercer prompted the Android when the silence went on just a little too long. “As acting communications officer, was there anything that you failed to pass along today?”

“Yes, Captain.” Isaac’s voice was as forthright and even as ever. “As we were preparing to intercept the Villenvelp a message was sent from the Zhrau High Command to Phaing instructing her do anything she deemed necessary to ensure the escape of any Avios in headed for Erriau, measures to include the catastrophic sabotage of Union vessels-“

“Kaylon!” Zurnoctis spat that word as if it were a curse. Then she looked to Phaing. “You allowed the Union to process your instructions from us?!”

Phaing never took her eyes off Isaac. The idea that Isaac was spying in her was one thing, but that he would withhold her own orders from her was something else. “I thought you trusted me.” And she added, as an afterthought, “Jackass.”

“I do.” Issac processed the situation for half a second, and added; “Wench”

“Butt-munch”

“Psycho.”

“Klutz!”

“Maniac.”

“Yeah, well, you got me there.” Phaing shrugged and looked at the screen. Everyone watching their exchange was flabbergasted, none more so that Admiral Zurnoctis. “Kaylon are not so bad once you get to know them. Isaac here makes decisions based on pure logic, so I reckon he don’t wanna die.” Phaing’s diction was the first clue that she was no longer cowering, and the nest one was how she crossed her legs and swung her chair away from the table. “Funny thing, we all seem to have the same over-blown concern about each other’s mental health here.So… seems like Isaac may also have been worried about what it would do to me, being’ ordered to kill my friends an’ all.”

“That is correct. I estimated your chances of sabotaging this ship at only 27%, while your risk of suffering a nervous breakdown was-“

Lamar elbowed Isaac, hard.

“Isaac, you are demoted to Ensign and confined to quarters when not on duty, pending an investigation.” Mercer was back on track. “Marshall Phaing, am I correct in assuming that you wish to press charges?”

It was obvious that she was much more angry at Zurnoctis than she was at Isaac. Without looking away from the screen, or moving at all, she said “We’ll see.” to Mercer, and to Zurnoctis, she said, “I guess I know what this is all about, _now_. You may as well know, I wouldn’t have gotten anyone killed for that. Allies don’t treat each other that way.”

Zurnoctis’s rage had been checked, but only in a temporary way. Now her wrath exploded.“You testicle-juggling cuntbag! Don’t you dare try to play me or use those Talking Monkeys you are pretending to befriend as leverage against me!”

Phaing had shrugged off the insult directed at her, but when Zurnoctis said that about the Humans in the room she lurched to her feet, fingers twitching. Lamar and Kelly were seeing through a red haze, yet seeing Phaing start to move snapped them out of it. Doc Finn was quicker than any of them, moving around in front of her, bravely close in fact. “Hey, look at me, look at someone that is not a hundred light-years away! That’s better… Phaing, now try listening; None of us believe _anything_  that evil wretch has said since she started talking, not a word! Don’t YOU start believing her!”

“Is that so?” The Admiral wasn’t the only Zhrau that looked as if she wanted to claw her way through the screen and get physical with somebody in a different sector of space.

“I’ll cut this off if I have to!” Mercer was also standing, and struggling to take charge of a deteriorating situation. “Let’s all take our seats and try to get this sorted out.” Finn did not hesitate, but Phaing did. She was glaring at the image of Zurnoctis as Mercer pleaded; “Let’s all get control of ourselves before this whole thing becomes a joke… or a disaster.”

Still seething, Zurnoctis could not restrain herself from getting one last dig in as Phaing slowly turned away to go back to her seat. “If you think I’m afraid of a punk like you, then you-“

Phaing snatched one of the little glass globes filled with water up off the table and hurled it straight at the image of Zurnoctis’s face in a swift move that came without any warning at all. The thin glass shattered on the screenwithout damaging a screen that was meant to continue functioning in battle. The water made an impressive splash in a horizontal sheet, leaving the pathetic little fern sliding down the screen. " _How about now, huh? How about **now** you silly bitch_!?"

Zurnoctis flinched, the large screen at her end had given her an impressivelyly realistic view of the glass glove coming straight at her and then appearing to explode like a grenade. That flinch, so very un-Zhrau like, cost her dearly. The only person sitting close enough to the screen on the Orville’s side to be threatened by glass shards was Isaac, who naturally did not need to protect himself. Everyone else in the room was surprised, but not nearly as surprised as Zurnoctis, and even Bortus was cracking a smile at her reaction.

Before the Zhrau Admiral could do or say anything, a voice from off-screen firmly said; “That will do, I’ll take it from here.”

With one last, venomous look at Phaing, Zurnoctis pushed away from her desk and left her desk, disappearing from view to the right. From the left came the highest-ranking Zhrau that ever deigned to speak to Union personal via screens.

“Time to get this sorted out.” Duke Argaelion spoke with rock-solid calm as he settled into the Admiral’s chair. "Now, what exactly seems to be the problem here?"


	5. Charity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, time to wrap this up.  
> I still have not seen the 2nd season yet, its a pity how they clamped down on YouTube, but I hear it isn't getting the reaction that the first season got.

**Charity**

 

Phaing took a deep breath, shaking off her rage with a visible effort, and remained standing until the Duke gave her permission to sit with a wave of his hand. There was no warmth in his gesture, or his face. When Mercer attempted to say something, the Duke cut him off at the first syllable with his attention still focused on Phaing. “I thought you admired the good Admiral.”

“I did, when I still thought there was something good about her.” Phaing was edgy as she settled into her chair, either because of her confrontation with Zurnoctis or the shock of being suddenly confronted with the Duke… or both. “She and I seem to have a disagreement on the fundamental value of life, your excellency, especially when it comes to children.”

“Oh? Ah, the Krill. The mistakes of our enemies are not our’s to correct.” The Duke could see that Mercer was not happy about being ignored, and that he was not going to be belittled by such elementary tricks. “Captain, as you have no doubt inspected that artifact you will have seen Zhrau markings on them. You will therefore return them all to us so that a proper determination can be made as to how stable they are and how best to deactivate them.”

“Deactivate?”

The Duke pointed at Phaing with two fingers. There was something odd about the gesture, and it made her cringe. Finn saw her trying to fight it, but Phaing was reacting as if….

“Stop that! That’s how she was treated when she was a slave, wasn’t she? Duke, how exactly did you know about that gesture?”

“Do you imagine that we don’t know how to vet our officers?” The Duke was unrepentant and Phaing kept her head down, as if she thought that this sort of intrusive abuse was her due. With her out of the way he moved on to Isaac, letting a vengeful bit of relish creep into his tone. “Have you Kaylons re-appointed yourselves the moral guardians of the Galaxy? As you may recall, your earlier experiments along those lines did not turn out very well… for _my_  people most especially.”

Isaac was silent and perfectly still for a moment, then tried to explain; “We-“

“Tell it to someone foolish enough to trust your kind.” The Duke glanced at Greyson, and dismissed her with just the ghost of a shrug before focusing on Captain Zintoor; “If your cargo is restored to you, will you proceed without preferring any charges against the Union?”

“I will.” Zintoor nodded, and managed to withhold a smirk.

Commander Greyson was leaning forward and ready to go on the attack, but Captain Mercer was ready. He put a hand over her’s and whispered to her. “Don’t give him what he wants.”

The Duke’s ears swiveled forwards, something that could have been comical but was actually a disturbingly alien thing to see first-hand.

Ed Mercer understood the game being played here, and he refused to play by the Duke’s rules. Sooner or later, the Duke would have to stop ignoring him and speak directly to the man on the Orville who made the decisions.  
Duke Argaelion may or may not have heard the whisper, but he correctly read Mercer’s body-language and abruptly came to the point; “Our alliance hangs in the balance, Mercer, all for the sake of some silly old relics. Can you forgive the excitement of a few scholars and let this incident pass, for the sake of peace? We will deal with the people who are responsible for this… as best we can.” He glanced slyly at Phaing, and then back at Mercer. “We can’t allow enthusiasm to become something to punish people over, especially the talented among us, can we?”

Greyson could not have answered the Duke’s take on the incident if she tried, his casual manipulation took her breath away. She turned to Mercer, and found that he looked perfectly serene. Ed sometimes found himself weirdly calm at moments of great stress, and this was one of them. He steepled his fingers and pondered words like ‘peace’ and ‘balance’ and the term ‘silly old relics’ as he wondered about how much this Duke really knew … and decided that it was far more than the canny Zhrau was letting on. “I’m sorry, your excellency. I have my orders from the Admiralty, not from you.”

“You also have the good sense to use your better judgement. Need I remind you how many times you have done so in the recent past?” The Duke was not being aggressive, a pleeding tone had come into his words. “I’m asking you a favor, on behalf of certain people who can’t be allowed to fail.”

“This is starting to sound political!” Greyson could hold back no longer. “Why aren’t you talking to _OUR_ politicians?”

“Because I’m trying to see if you will allow us to _save face_ here, as you say. all I am asking is for you to expedite this. As you may have heard, I am an exceptionally good man to have owing you a favor.”

“It won’t work.” Phaing raised her head just enough to look at the Duke through her eyebrows. “Stop trying to corrupt them, you have no idea how-“

The Duke made another sharp gesture and glared at Phaing, which was enough to silence her and make her shrink back into her chair.

“Where is _our_  Admiralty? We need help … ” Greyson asked Mercer while the Duke was distracted. She was astonished to see Ed turn his head just enough so that Argaelion would not see it when he winked at her. _What the hell, he wants to handle this himself?!_

“You may want to heed Phaing’s advice.” Mercer said to the Duke. “In my experience, it proves to be pretty damn good.”

“I am not trying to corrupt you. This is simply how things work at this level.”

“Is that so?” Mercer pretended to be interested. “It does not seem to be a very pleasant level to be on, especially for you Zhrau. You people have always been so calm and knowledgeable… until now. First the Captain here, then that very disagreeable Admiral, and now you, all so uptight and edgy. And I have never seen Phaing so subdued.” She did not look as if she had even heard him. “Or so timid.” Still, there was no reaction.

“I think you owe her an apology.” The Duke’s voice was just shy of patronizing.

“I think you owe us all the truth.” Mercer enjoyed watching the Duke begin to loose control over his expression, and he also noticed Phaing’s head come up. She looked at him as if she thought he had been talking to her, so Mercer asked “Is there something you want to say?”

She nodded slowly, and the Duke growled; “Don’t you dare.”

“Dare what?!” Lamar had had enough. “Be the only Zhrau wiling to be truthful with us? Yeah, I can see how that would make her a renegade in your eyes.”

“Who do you think you are?” The Duke’s eyes flickered between Lamar and Phaing. “Oh, I see, your latest toy? I should warn you, it only took two days for General Tarlyn to tire of her.” His irritation had caused him to make a mistake; “Stay out of this, Lieutenant. Your betters, and that includes the Field Marshall, are working on resolving an issue that is above your pay-grade.”

Phaing jerked a thumb back over her shoulder at the artifact. “Its part of an array that could make starships obsolete, don’t give it up!”

She had said it very quickly, as if she wasn’t expecting to be able to finish a longer sentence… and this was very nearly the case. Zintoor was so shocked that he made a sound that was halfway between a hiss and a gasp. and pulled something out of the top of his boot. The Zhrau was as quick as a snake, but Lamar had been warned by the noises Zintoor had made. He grabbed Zintoor’s hand while it was still under the table (making for an odd-looking tableaux for a moment) and took what he had grabbed. Lamar dropped it on the table while he twisted Zintoor’s arm back and forced him to remain in his seat.

The chief of security had been hovering in the background until now. She darted in and scooped up the egg-shaped device and placed it out of Zintoor’s reach. “A weapon.” was all she said about it, and her hands clamped down on Zintoor’s shoulders from behind. “Shall I?” she asked, nodding at the door. Being Xelayan, she did not care if the door was open or not. If the Captain gave her the nod, then the Zhrau would be going through it and out of the room for good.

All Mercer could do at that moment was hold up a hand at them, he was distracted by the hard stares that Phaing and the Duke were exchanging. The Duke’s words matched his expression; “I can’t believe- “

“Believe it!” Phaing bared her teeth. She had been faking her compliance all along. “How _DARE_ you? How can you think that those creepy old Slaver tricks would still work on me?! All you did was confirm what that order of yours made me think; you are one of the Bad Guys!”

That simplistic designation was anything but corny to the Zhrau, and the Duke reacted as if he’s been slapped in the face. “Stop right there! This is the point at which you start to vanish, as far as the Zhrau people are concerned. Take one more step and you will be dead to the very people you have been struggling to connect with for years.”

“Phaing!” Kelly was so desperate to get her attention that she was leaning halfway across the table. “What did you mean? What is that thing supposed to be?”

“You have legends about my people on your world for a reason-“

“STOP!” the Duke bellowed, and he seemed to be pleading with her, but it was too late.

Phaing yelled right back at the Duke; “When you explained this to me, you made it sound as if it would bring us all together! The only reason you would go to this extent to grab it is because it is really a _weapon_ … isn’t that right?” She turned to Kelly before he could answer her. “What his is about is self-contained Wyrm Holes that go from planet to planet, range unlimited. They already have half of the lost-tech them need, the other half was on Earth all along.”

“You knew?” Mercer asked, voice strained.

“I _thought_  I knew.” Phaing glared at the Duke again. “The reason for this project’s sensitivity is now perfectly clear to me. Instead of making interstellar wars obsolete, it just transfers the fighting straight to the surface of habitable worlds! Its monstrous.”

“As is your stupidity.” The Duke shook his head at her and turned to Zintoor. “Captain, as soon as that barbarian stops groping you, I want you to take the Field Marshall under arrest.”

“Gladly!”

“Arrest?” Phaing sneered at the screen, ignoring Zintoor. “Time for a little courtroom drama, eh? Fine by me, but what charges, exactly?”

“The charge is exceeding your orders to the point of treason against the State.” Phaing’s arms dropped to her sides, and her recently regained aplomb fell away with them. “As you know, once you are found guilty you will be publicly executed in a manner befitting your crime.”

Phaing put a hand on the table, she needed contact with something solid. “You…. you were ready for this…. but, I mean… what... Why?” She wasn't faking it this time.

It was the Duke who was showing his teeth now. “I am always ready to salvage something from a disaster. And you, you scatterbrained little halfbreed, your history and your recent exploits have made you just a little too popular with the unwashed masses. Time for you to leave the stage.”

Mercer brought both fists down on the table as he leap to his feet. “Over my dead body!”

“Oh? Sorry, the time for heroics is past, Captain Mercer. This is now a legal issue.” The Duke grinned wolfishly at the Union crew. “You are on the wrong side, now, all of you. On what grounds would you deny extradition?”

“ _I’ll take it from here_.” Admiral Halsey’s voice unexpectedly filled he room.

The screen behind Mercer and Greyson flashed to life, making both of them flinch. It was exactly what Kelly had been hoping for, but it still took her by surprise. As Ed sat back down, Kelly grinned over her shoulder at him and at the admiral. “Thank God your here.”

“I’ve been watching since this started. Commissioner Jirot is waiting patently for me to return from a visit to the bathroom… he seems to have an exaggerated idea of how necessary such visits are to humans. Now, Duke Argaelion, you seem to think you have this all wrapped up, don’t you? Whichever way this goes, you score a victory. I take it your next move was to offer to let Phaing off the hook if the Orville hands those artifacts over to you.”

The Duke’s eyes flashed dangerously, but only for an instant. He leaned back and pretended to mull the idea over, thoughtfully. “Well, admiral, I suppose an arrangement _could_  be made…”

“Just as I thought.” Halsey was distracted by Phaing. “Marshall, please sit down. _Relax_ , we are not going to let him harm you.”

“Huh?” Phaing was not pretending to be in a daze anymore, she was floored by the Duke’s threats. “Oh, alright.”

Doc Finn took her hand and helped guide Phaing to her seat while the Admiral asked; “ _Field_ Marshall, is it? I don’t understand how that rank fits in with the Zhrau hierarchy, could you explain it to me?”

“The last exam for the cadets is a big war-game, and the highest scorer is challenged by the Headmaster of the War College and a member of the General Staff. If the cadet wins…. well, doesn’t happen very often, but I got an honorary rank out of it. ll it means is that nobody can tell me what to do when it comes to fighting a battle.”

Halsey raised an eyebrow to her, and then at the Duke. “Back at Ras Mentis you goaded me into some rather rash actions that resulted in Phaing’s hasty inclusion in the Orville’s roster. Duke, it would appear that you have been playing me, _us_ , from the very beginning. We are done with that as of now. Am I making myself clear, your excellency?”

The Duke sneered. “The fact remains that I have you right where I want you. You, or the good Captain here.” he gestured at Mercer. “will have to give me Phaing, or the artifacts. Given the Humanitarian reputation that your Union has, it really isn’t a choice at all, now is it?”

Phaing had been right, the Duke had planned his fail-safe very well. However, his understanding of the Union was not as perfect as he thought.

“No…. actually it _isn’t_ that simple.” All eyes went to Mercer as he tapped the side of his head with two fingers. “I seem to recall…. yes, there is a way out, for her. All Phaing would have to do is request asylum and she would be out of your reach. If she is seeking refuge from a repressive political regime, the Admiral would be able to grant her protection instantly.” He leaned towards Phaing, who was looking at him with disbelieving eyes. “Its true, but you have to ASK. Ask for it, and-“

“If you do,“ At last, the Duke was showing real anger, “you will be dead to us, and we will find you-“

“Shut your mouth.”

Admiral Halsey had a reputation in the Union, and part of that reputation was that he’d never resorted to obscene language. It was true, he’d never had to, and now the people on the Union understood why. With just those three words, he had cut the Duke off at the knees.

“Have you gone mental?” Was the Duke’s retort, and it was not a very good one. “You are just an Admiral!”

“For people who think they know the Union so well, you Zhrau always seem to come up short. I am an Admiral, that is true, but you sir are _only a Duke_. The Union does not formally recognize hereditary aristocrats as legitimate rulers. We have only been talking to you as a courtesy.” Halsey glanced at a display on his desk, and smiled. “A courtesy that I am glad to say has now been withdrawn. Isaac, cut the audio feed coming from that screen, but allow the Duke to continue to witness what is happening here. Captain Mercer, I would appreciate it if you drop the charges against Isaac, he was under my orders when he started intercepting Zhrau transmissions his morning.”

“Really?” Mercer allowed his irritation to show, it was a good way to hide his relief. “Without _telling_ me? That was-“

“Brilliant.” Phaing was holding Doc Finn’s hand while here eyes roamed the room looking everywhere… except at the silently raging Duke. “You saw this coming, and you were ready for it. Given what little you knew beforehand, that’s incredible.” Here eyes went to Zintoor. “Isn’t it?”

The Zhrau Captain shrugged the Security Chief’s hands off and leaned towards Phaing. “Brilliant? Not if someone on our side blabbed! It would be easy for the people back home to make it look as if it was _you_ , Phaing. Think about that. I’m a mercenary, I know when to cut my losses and run, which is exactly what I intend to do once I get out of this goddamed room. But you hero types…” he shrugged at the screen that still showed the Dukes image. “… you never know when to keep your mouths shut and go with the flow, now _do_ you?”

Phaing did not look as if she knew what he was talking about. Mercer cleared his throat; “Phaing, I asked you a question earlier. I cannot ask it again, not without looking as if I am steering you towards the answer I want to hear.”

“You want…” She blinked. “ _Omigosh_  asylum! You _want_ **me**?” Phaing looked at the crew, each in turn. “But…. what about you all? I mean, _I’d_ like to, would it be alright with you folks?”

“I’ll adopt you if it speeds this up!” Doc Finn said immediately.

“I’ll second that!” Greyson’s words were hard on the heels of the Doctor’s, and just as sincere.

Not to be outdone, Lamar blurted; “Hell, I’ll marry you if that’s what it takes.” Everyone, the Admiral and the Duke included, looked at Lamar with wide eyes. “Oh come on, who —wouldn’t—?”

“Does your Health Plan include therapy?” Zintoor grumbled while gazing longingly at the door.

Phaing ignored him, a joyful yet tentative smile coming over her. “Yes!” before Lamar could panic she turned to Halsey, and then Mercer. “Yes, I request asylum in the Union, and I want to remain on this ship for as long as I can. I mean, with these people. I never liked being in spaceships much, but -“

“ _What_?”

Phaing shrugged at Kelly. “Yeah, it just isn’t very comfortable to me, I’d much rather be breathing real air with real ground under my feet. _Meh_ , who cares about that? If you folks are alright with this, I can handle anything!” She looked at Halsey and stood up. “Thank you.”

“I owed you one. In a way, I suppose it’s my fault you are here in the first place.” Before she could ask what he meant by that, Halsey hurried to add; “I’ll explain later, and the formalities can also wait. Welcome to the Union, and glad to have you.  
Mercer, I want you back here as soon as possible, the Iowa and the Scharnhorst will rendezvous to escort you to Earth.” Looking up, Halsey saw that the Duke was long gone. “Is there anyone over there that is still listening?” Admiral Zurnoctis stepped into view, arms crossed over her chest and her face looking like a stony mask. Halsey winced. “Anyone _else_?”

 

Phaing did not wait for the formalities to be over before she made the rounds, hugging all of them while whispering grateful words in their ears. Mercer would always remember what she said to him; “Thanks for the offer, and I wouldn’t have any problem called you Daddy… but I think _you_ might have a problem with having John as a son-in-law, eh?” He could not tell if she was kidding or serious, or both, and the kiss she laid on Lamar did nothing to clarify matters.

 

A few minutes later Mercer was escorting Zintoor to his shuttle with Greyson at his side, and their Security Chief right behind Zintoor. The Zhrau Captain was much more relaxed now that it was over, he even apologized for his earlier behavior. “It was just business, you know. There will be other bonuses… ah, but none to match what we could have had with this one!” He sighed philosophically and passed a card to Mercer. The card was Zintoor’s contact information. “Just in case.”

Greyson was ready to spit in his face. “You don’t really think that we would ever turn to YOU if we ever needed any help?!”

Zintoor nodded, and then grimaced when he saw the look she was giving him. “I mean, you never know-“

“The way this turned out doesn’t bother you?” Mercer asked, his voice a bit on the loud side. “Your side lost, and now you are trying to get work from my side?”

“Sides?” Zintoor was smiling now. “Yesterday we were all on the same side, who knows what tomorrow will bring? We had your data core for a while, now you have Phaing for a while. It all comes around.”

Kelly quick-stepped in front of Zintoor and confronted him. “What do you mean ‘for a while’? Are your people going to send assassins after her?!”

“What? No _no_ , why would we bother with that now? Most people say that Phaing making Field Marshall was a fluke, and everyone knows what a handful she is.” Zintoor shook his head at her. “That bitch is your problem now, instead of ours, and you are welcome to her. Assassins? Honestly, what do you people take us for, some kind of gang of Space Nazis?”

Mercer groaned in frustration. Cheap entertainment blazed a trail between species, bringing confusion and misunderstanding across the light-years and spreading like a social disease. His irritation and Zintoor’s attitude broke what was left of Mercer’s reserve, and he snapped at the Zhrau; “No, nobody is going to call you that, Zintoor. In order to qualify as a Nazi, you’d actually have to _BELIEVE_ in something!” Before Zintoor could answer him, Mercer turned on his heels and said to the Chief; “Just get him out of here.” Protocol be damned, he wanted to be back on his bridge.

Kelly felt the same way, she was right by his side and in a much better mood than Ed was. “You finally got in a good one.”

“What?”

“Never mind Ed, but I do know something that will put a smile on your face. When that Captain gets back to his shuttle, he’s going to find out that he is going to have to fly it back to his ship himself.”

Mercer stopped and looked back down the way they had come. “What? Why?”

Kelly was grinning. “Zintoor was using his personal comms to send a live feed of our meeting back to his crew. Both of the Zhrau in the hangar deck asked for asylum about 30 seconds after Phaing did.”

Instead of smiling, Mercer rolled his eyes. “Its a good thing we are headed for Earth, then. We aren’t equipped for Immigration control.” Kelly tilted her head at him. “I…. I don’t know what to say, just trying not to let what Zintoor said get to me. He was right, Phaing is our’s now, everything she had with the Zhrau is gone now. We’re IT.” He sighed and shook his head. “I hope we’re enough.”

Once they were in the elevator Kelly put her arm around his and leaned in close. “We’ll do fine. You saw her going back and forth with Isaac, right?”

“Yeah!” Mercer had been amazed by that, and how natural it had seemed. “Malloy has been trying to get Isaac to be that way with him for years, what _was_  that?”

“She wasn’t _trying_ for anything at all, she never does. That’s one of the reasons we like Phaing so much; she takes people as she finds them and never gets upset when other people don’t measure up to her expectations of them.”

“ _Huh_.” If Ed respected Kelly’s judgement, and he did, that was a great thing to hear. “Very nice, and you know... I like her too… but what kind of Union Officer is she going to make?”

“Oh yeah, she really is going to have to be one of us from now on.” Kelly laughed. “No more special status, she is going to have to follow your orders from now on…. ' _Boss_ '.”

That _did_  put a smile on Ed Mercer’s face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, any thoughts?


End file.
